The Liar, the Glitch, and the War Drone
by Devoglio S
Summary: Post-Doomsday AU that deals with universe-jumping, Time War angst, and the reunion of Ten and Rose. It's pretty OC-centric, but please don't be scared of that. Completely ignoring canon after S2. Doctor x Rose. T for my own paranoia and mentions of death, violence, and PTSD insanity. Story is at least a bit better than summary.
1. And You Are?

AN: Well, let me explain a few things about this. 1) It's an AU starting at the end of Doomsday, completely ignoring Donna or the rest of series 3. 2) While there is an OC, please don't be alarmed. It's not going to be a Mary Sue that ends up with the Doctor. 3) I'm mostly just writing this for fun because I've had the idea bouncing around in my head for quite some time. And 4) I very well may abandon/delete this story if no one likes or cares about it.

No idea what the updating schedule will be like yet, or if it will even continue. Please let me know what your thoughts are.

Now that that's dealt with, here's chapter one.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Doctor Who. The OC is mine, but that's not really all that cool.

* * *

THEY were standing on a beach. A horrible, terrible, good-for-nothing beach in Norway. Her parents and Mickey stood to the side, watching as the time travelers said goodbye for the last time. The ocean was to his left, relatively speaking, but his attention was only on the woman in front of him. The beautiful, impossible woman.

"I… I _love_ you!" She was crying, terrified and heartbroken because this was it. This was the last time Rose Tyler would ever see the Doctor. _No, please don't let this be it. I- I don't know how I'll go on without him…_

He laughed a bit at that, hardly believing his luck. _She loves me she loves me she loves me!_ "Quite right, too," he replies. His smile was bright and brilliant, though there were tears in his eyes. "And, if it's my last chance to say it," _here goes everything…_ "Rose Tyler-" And he was gone. Back in the TARDIS, with his Rose gone forever. He was alone.

"I love you," he brokenly whispered to the otherwise empty TARDIS, silent tears streaming down his face.

"Well, erm, while I am _flattered_, I'm not quite sure how you can love me. We've only just met, see." The Doctor turned around in shock to see a girl, no more than 20 years old, standing to the side of the control room. She had waist-length golden brown hair, and her eyes looked multidimensionally brown and gold. That seemed to be a theme with her, because she wore golden tan jeans with a dark brown jumper and boots. There was something almost… familiar about her, but the Doctor was almost too shocked to notice.

He gaped at her, his mouth opening and closing several times without actually making noise. The girl looked at him in worried confusion. She checked behind her back and all around, looking around to see if there was anyone else that could have been confusing him. She turned back to him and pointed at herself, looking just as confused as he was. "M-me? You're gaping like a fish out of water over _me_? I thought you were supposed to be brilliant, but one person using a dimension canon extension on a time vortex manipulator and you just freeze up?" She dropped her arm back to her side before crossing her arms and looking at the Doctor in disapproval. "Tsk, tsk, Mr. Doctor. I'm just… disappointed. You were so much cooler in the last universe. Then again, you were a regular human there, but still. You were less… shock-able."

The Doctor continued to gape at her, finally able to stutter out, "What?!"

"That's all you can say?" she replied in frustration. "Really? I pop on to your TARDIS that's spinning 'round a supernova and all you can say is 'What?'?"

"What?! No, seriously, what?!"

"I. Am on. Your ship," she said slowly, popping the 'p' with no small amount of condescension. "I really think the question you should be asking is 'how', unless of course you're wondering about my identity. If that's the case, though, I'm a bit offended. I'm not a 'what'; I'm a 'who'. I suppose you could ask 'why', but that's much more complicated. 'When' would be pointless, and we already know 'where': the TARDIS. Nice console, by the way, but you really should have a better monitor," she finished matter-of-factly, rocking back and forth on her heels and putting her arms behind her back.

The Doctor blinked several times before her words registered in his mind, and he merely continued to open and shut his mouth before finally composing himself. "Alright, how?"

"Already said."

"Then say it again."

She huffed a bit, rolling her eyes before showing him the modified time vortex manipulator on her wrist. "It's a vortex manipulator that I spruced up a bit in a parallel Torchwood. I added a dimension canon that I designed myself, and it brought me here. It runs by taking huon energy and bending it around, making a little dent in the fabric of dimensional space. It usually drops me off wherever there are large amounts of huon particles, and this time 'round it went straight to your TARDIS."

"That's impossible."

"Mm, not quite. Improbable and unimaginably difficult, ya, but if it were impossible I wouldn't be here."

The Doctor eyes her skeptically before walking closer and scanning her with his sonic screwdriver. He whipped out his 3-D glasses and his brow furrowed in confusion at what he saw.

"I just look like a big green blob, don't I?" she asked, sounding a bit sad.

"Yeah, but you would have had to have been essentially living in the Void for years to have all of this on you!"

"Centuries, even."

"Well, yes," he said, taking off his glasses and facing her properly again. "But you're young! It would have taken you lifetimes to build up that amount of Void stuff. You're what? 20? 25, maybe?"

She giggled a bit at that. "Not even close. But age wasn't one of your questions. Try again."

"Fine. Who?"

"Erm, not really a fair question. You never tell anyone your name."

"But I do tell people! I'm the Doctor."

She scoffed. "A pompous title for a pompous race. That's not your name, that's your superhero alter ego."

"You know about me?"

"Last of the Time Lords."

"Right. Thanks for bringing that up, by the way."

"Anytime," she replied with a shrug.

He studied her again, this time with no small amount of impatience. "Look, I'm getting tired of these games. Just tell me who you are."

"Fine. My name's Drew. At least, that's what everyone calls me."

"Nice to meet you," he replied sarcastically. He scanned her with the sonic again, though this time it didn't tell him anything at all. It was just… blank.

"Oh, I hope you don't mind. I kind of blocked your signal on that. Can't have you finding things out too soon, now can I?"

"What do you mean?"

She rolled her eyes once again, which was something the Doctor was getting more than a little sick of. "I just said you can't find things out. I can't tell you the things you can't find out; you'd be finding it all out."

The Doctor shook his head at the impossibility of the person before him. "Riiiight. Anyway, more in-depth 'who' if you please."

She seemed to fight a bit with herself at that, finally nodding and replying. "I'm from another universe. A marginally parallel one that's incredibly far away. At least, it used to be far away. That's why I'm here."

"Is it moving through the Void? You said it used to be far away; are the realities in danger of collision?"

She looked at him in confusion before finally understanding how he took point A and got to Z. "Nonono, you misunderstand. It used to be far in that it's no longer in existence. I came here because I'm otherwise homeless. My reality… well, it was destroyed." Her eyes became darker, the brown rims of her irises tinged black. They looked… stormy. They were swirling like the Vortex they were traveling in. And they looked impossibly old, like they'd witnessed horrible things for hundreds of lifetimes. The Doctor had no idea that that was exactly what happened. She shook herself a bit and once again adopted her bright demeanor. "Anyway, I've pretty much been a dimension-hopping hobo for the past few cent- years. It's kind of neat, really, getting to see all of those incredible things in so many different ways. I once accidentally dated a male version of myself." She looked off to the side as she remembered that day. "Honestly, though, not my worst date."

The Doctor looked at her with growing confusion, frustrated beyond belief that he was getting nowhere. "Um, why? Why don't you just choose a nice parallel reality and settle down? Make a new life for yourself and all that?"

"That's what I've been trying to do. I just need to find a reality that doesn't already have a, well, a _me_ in it. Paradoxes and all that; I'm sure you understand."

The Doctor nodded distractedly. "Are there any other questions you'd actually answer?"

She looked off to the side with a look of deep conversation. "I'd tell you what my worst date was. Or what the last few universes I went to were like. Or maybe even how you can get back to that lovely blonde girl on your holograph. Any of those, really. Take your pick."

"Alright, who was your worst date?"

She snorted a bit, not at all surprised that he was evading the really important questions. _Good to know that he's not all that different in this universe._ "Back a few universes ago I ran into a Raxacoricofalapatorian. I didn't know he was one at the time; I just thought he was chubby and gassy. I thought he was really sweet." Her smile turned gentle as she remembered him. But she grimaced a bit when she remembered the actual date. "Then of course we went to go get chips and I put vinegar on them…"

The Doctor laughed heartily at that. "Tell me he didn't-" and then he mimed an explosion.

"He did, though. Gah, you could imagine the smell. I had guts and skin all over me; it was disgusting!" They continued to laugh at it for a bit before sobering once again, though the Doctor seemed to be in slightly higher spirits.

"So, where are you from? And what could possibly have the power to send an entire reality to the Void?"

Her eyes darkened again, but this time they didn't snap back. They swirled angrily and she somehow looked old and young all at once, like she'd seen everything in just a small matter of time. "There was a war," she said brokenly. "Some people call it the Time War. My people called it the War of Creation. It destroyed… everything. Billions upon billions of people and planets and creatures were reduced to ash and sucked into oblivion. I've heard of you, Doctor. I've heard about how you're the only survivor of your planet. Well I'm the only survivor of my universe."


	2. So, Here's the Plan

AN: Hello again. *waves awkwardly* So, I've decided to go ahead and continue this story, so ya. Here's chapter 2, and chapter 3 should be up Friday. I think I'll be updating every other day, or at least trying to, so I hope that schedule works for everyone. Thank you to those that have already read, reviewed, followed, and/or favorited, with special thanks to Dannielle, Anaika Skywalker, cupcaki, Emmyj3, and eruditereader for their reviews on chapter 1. I hope you all continue to enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Doctor Who. Big shock, I know.

* * *

*~PREVIOUSLY~*

"So, where are you from? And what could possibly have the power to send an entire reality to the Void?"

"There was a war," she said brokenly. "Some people call it the Time War. My people called it the War of Creation. It destroyed… everything. Billions upon billions of people and planets and creatures were reduced to ash and sucked into oblivion. I've heard of you, Doctor. I've heard about how you're the only survivor of your planet. Well I'm the only survivor of my universe."

* * *

THE Doctor looked at her in shocked silence before finally managing, "I'm sorry. I am so sorry."

Her eyes regained their golden glow and she adopted her smile again. Now, of course, he knew it was just a mask. "Eh. What's done is done, I suppose. Besides, it's not like it was your fault. You've no reason to apologize. Unless you were just expressing your condolences, because that's perfectly fine."

"What did you mean earlier when you said it was 'marginally parallel'?"

She scrunched her face up in confusion as she tried to think of a good analogy for her thoughts. "It's like… there are two basic classes of reality: primary and secondary. My universe was secondary, but most of the events and people and all that were like here, hence it still being parallel. There are also two definitions of parallel: same class and adjacent or different class with similarities. My universe was the second kind in relation to this one; just like the universe your friend went to was parallel in the first sense. Does that explain it?"

"Not parallel by proximity but linked by similarities."

"Brilliant! Yes," she said, beaming. "Gah, I can never usually say what I'm thinking so this is a big improvement for me." Her smile dimmed a bit as she continued, "That's how my universe was able to be destroyed. Temporal and spatial flux overwhelmed the primary universe that mine was subordinate to, and the shockwaves were devastating. A decision made in this universe brought my reality into existence, but it also condemned it to destruction. And, before you start worrying, nothing's going to hurt your friend's universe; it's a prime, like this one."

"What could have possibly had the power to create temporal shockwaves that reduced another reality to dust?"

"Haven't you been listening? The Time War. The repercussions of it were catastrophic. I've even been able to link it to a specific time in the war: the Fall of Arcadia. Something happened then that changed things so drastically that my reality couldn't handle the fluctuation. So it burnt and was consumed by oblivion." The Doctor was utterly baffled at how she could say something like that so calmly when even mentioning Gallifrey made him want to regenerate.

"Oh. Well, that's a bit…"

"Bad?"

"Yep."

Awkward silence consumed the console room, the only noises the squeak of the Doctor's trainers and the gentle hum of the TARDIS. "So…"

"Don't you want to know how to get back to Rose?"

The Doctor ran his hand over his face in frustration. "It's impossible. The two universes are in serious danger of collapse. If I were to attempt to cross over, they would both be destroyed-" He winced as he said this, knowing that if Rose were there she'd probably slap him for being so inconsiderate.

"It's okay. I made my peace with it centuries ago. But I figured out a way to stabilize the hole in the universes, if you really do want to get her."

"I'm sorry, but it's not possible."

She looked at him like he'd just dribbled on his shirt- _huh, _he thought. _So that's how people feel when I do that_- and shook her head in disbelief. "A few minutes ago didn't you say it was impossible for me to be here? And yet here I am. Didn't you think it was impossible for one thought to destroy a whole universe? But that's what happened, and I'm proof of it. Impossible is just a challenge, Doctor. And this one is just easy."

"Alright. If you're so sure that you have all the answers, what's your plan?"

"It's simple. We go to the nearest rift and charge up the spatial-dimensional flux capacitors and stabilizers. We give them enough power to broadcast into the passage between the universes, and then the TARDIS continues to stabilize while we go get Rose. Then if we have leftover energy we can permanently mend the tear in the multidimensional fabric of space, and then she can visit her family whenever she wants. It's a win-win-win."

The Doctor simply scoffed. "See? That is completely- oh, my word that could actually work." The Doctor ran back to the console and pulled up the plans for the capacitors and the energy levels, then looking at the schematics for the spatial tear. "It could work…" he whispered in disbelief before letting out a shocked and happy laugh. He ran up to Drew and pulled her into a mighty hug, twirling her in the air and exclaiming, "It could work!"

"Of course it would work, you daft alien. What do you take me for, an amateur?"

They both laughed at that a bit before he returned her to the floor. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

"Any time," she replied with a smirk. "But before I help you reroute the energy and figure out how long we need to stay in Cardiff, I need you to promise me something."

"That depends on what it is," he replied warily.

"You've got to promise me that once we get to Rose you're not gonna chicken out. You have to promise that you're gonna tell her how you feel."

"Oh," he said in surprise. "Is that all? Of course I'm gonna do that. Wait, why do you care?"

"I knew Rose in every universe. For some reason, you two always find each other. That's the one constant that I've seen: you two are always together. And she's wonderful. She's kind, and selfless, and just… fantastic. She deserves to be happy, and you make her happy. Simple as that," she finished with a shrug.

"Oh," he breathed. "And when you say we're together, you mean…"

"Yep."

"Right."

There was yet another bout of awkward silence, this time broken by Drew clearing her throat. "So, shall I set a course for Cardiff?"

"Yeah, go ahead," the Doctor mumbled distractedly, already rushing off to his room to gather more tools.

She shrugged and walked over to the console, placing a gentle hand on the Time Rotor. She looked up towards the ceiling and smiled. "Hey, old girl," she whispered. "I haven't seen you in a long time. It's nice to see you again." She felt the TARDIS brush the back of her mind, and she felt the ship's relief and happiness. "I know; I didn't think I'd make it out either. But here I am, right as rain and still kicking. Now, may I?" She felt the TARDIS give her consent, and then she running all around the console, getting acquainted with the controls and dancing about in a frenzy, laughing the whole time.

She checked the monitor once she was done, and found that she'd landed them right on the rift in Cardiff, Wales, Earth. It was 10 in the morning on September 17, 2007. The day after the Battle of Canary Warf. She considered waiting for the Doctor to do whatever he needed to do, but she knew it had the potential of taking an hour, knowing how distracted he always got. She wrote a quick note saying that she went out, only to crumple it up and write it again in English. _No use letting him know that I know Gallifreyan yet._ She stuck it up on the monitor and made her way to the doors. With a grin, she stepped out, using her spare key from a few universes back to lock the door behind her. She turned to face the world but immediately threw her hands up in surrender when she saw a man in a WWII-era coat holding a gun in front of her.

"Captain Jack Harkness. And you are?"

She looked back at the TARDIS guiltily before facing the Time Agent again. "Currently? In trouble."

* * *

AN: Just to let you guys know, more will be revealed about Drew's background in the next chapter or two. I think this will end up somewhere around 5 chapters, but I'm not entirely sure yet. It won't be all that long ,though, and I already have a lot of it planned out. Bye for now, and I'll see you Friday.


	3. What Happens in Cardiff Doesn't

AN: *nervously walks in* H-Hi guys. So... this may or may not be over a week late (it is) and that may or may not make me the worst person ever (it does) and I'm so incredibly sorry. I had no idea what to do once I started writing this, and then I figured it out, and then I didn't know how to write it, and I started like 2-3 other stories even though I _knew_ that I needed to write this and I just- ugh. I'm sorry, guys. I'll try my hardest to not do that again. Huge thank-you to all those that have read, reviewed, favorited, and/or followed. In fact, huge thank-you to all those that are still going to stick with me after my mini-hiatus. Special thanks to eruditereader, Laura, Emmyj3, and The Eclectic Bookworm for their reviews. Here's the ridiculously belated Chapter 3.

DISCLAIMER: If I owned Doctor Who, I wouldn't have to keep writing these. That would be the icing on the proverbial cake, tbh.

*~*~PREVIOUSLY~*~*

With a grin, she stepped out, using her spare key from a few universes back to lock the door behind her. She turned to face the world but immediately threw her hands up in surrender when she saw a man in a WWII-era coat holding a gun in front of her.

"Captain Jack Harkness. And you are?"

She looked back at the TARDIS guiltily before facing the Time Agent again. "Currently? In trouble."

* * *

"WAIT a second," the Doctor said as he walked back towards the console room. "Was that sarcasm? Cos there's no way you could know how to fly the- where'd she go?" The Doctor looked around the empty room in confusion before checking the monitor. "Well, I'll be. She actually flew us to Cardiff. How is that even possible?" He then saw the note stuck to the top right corner of the console, and read, _"Didn't know how long you'd be gone so I went out to explore. See you when I see you. 3 3 Drew."_ The Doctor considered staying in and tinkering with the console, but she'd already readjusted the capacitors and stabilizers to absorb most of the energy, so there really wasn't much for him to do. With a shrug he went out the doors of the TARDIS and locked them behind him.

He looked around the empty street and wondered where his kind-of-companion could have wandered off to. "Rose, did I ever tell you how important it is not to wander off? I mean, how're we ever gonna find her with nothing to go off of? Rose?" He looked around in confusion until both of his hearts fell when he remembered. "Right, how could I forget?" He shook his head as he felt tears start to prick his eyes and he managed a broken laugh. "Well, that's okay, because we're going to get her back." He continued talking to himself in this way as he started walking around. He had no idea where to go, but he had the strangest feeling that he should head for trouble and she'd be there. _Just like with Rose…_ Nope. No need for that kind of thinking. Right now he just needed to focus on finding Drew. Then everything would be fine.

* * *

DREW had her hands raised in a defensive 'I surrender' gesture. She was very aware of the gun that was currently pointed at her back, and as she walked it took all of her self-control not to roll her eyes and huff at the idiot holding it. He had a gun to her back, leading her to a secret government facility, and they were in broad flipping daylight. _Eh, what else should I really expect from an American?_

"So, you never properly answered my question: who are you?"

"Um," she looked up to the side as if trying to make a decision. "Let's go with Mal. I've always liked that alias," she finished with a smirk, though Captain Cheesecake couldn't see it.

"And your real name?"

"None of your business." _Oh, winding this one up is _too_ easy,_ she thought with a satisfied grin.

"You think you're real clever, don't you?" They had reached their destination, and by the strange 'T'-shaped logo Drew could tell that they were at this dimension's new-and-improved Torchwood. "Now, this is how this is gonna work," he said as he pushed her into the Hub. "I'm going to ask you a series of questions, you're going to give me some straight answers, and if you're lucky you'll be out of here in a few hours."

She only snorted at that and sat down in the cold metal chair that he nodded towards. They were in some kind of investigation room, complete with a rickety metal table and an annoyingly bright light hanging from the ceiling. He sat down across from her and began the questioning. "So, how long have you been traveling with the Doctor?"

"About… 30 minutes? Maybe 32; I'm not quite sure."

"What do you know about the Battle of Canary Warf?"

"More than you ever will." She was getting tired of these pointless questions already.

"Could you be a bit more specific?"

"Daleks, Cybermen, the Doctor, Rose Tyler, Torchwood, long list of casualties, technically never happened."

Jack could only blink dumbly at that before nodding and continuing. "Where is the Doctor currently?"

"Probably aimlessly roaming Cardiff trying to find me."

"Why did you start traveling with the Doctor?"

"Because I needed to."

"But why?"

"My, my, you sound like a whiny little kid," she replied with a laugh. "I started traveling with him because I needed to, and I'm not really keen on sharing exactly why."

"Your cooperation would be appreciated."

"Tough."

He spared a moment to glare at her before heaving a sigh. "You're not gonna make this easy, are you?"

"No, I'm going to make this incredibly easy."

"Oh?"

"Mhmm."

He waited for her to elaborate, but when it became obvious that she was only going to sit there with an annoyingly smug smile he prompted, "And how exactly are you going to do that?"

Her grin turned mischievous and her eyes began to sparkle a bit, almost as if they were… glowing. "By doing this." And with that, her eyes seemed to explode with golden light, luminous smoke pouring out. She didn't do this very often, but she'd done it enough to know what to do. She looked through time, through the Vortex itself, and found information from that morning. She saw the Hub, where Jack was talking to some dark-headed Scottish woman. She had a full cup of coffee next to her computer, and Drew could tell that it was mere seconds from spilling. The woman- Gwen- seemed to forget about the cup and accidentally bumped her station, causing the cup to teeter a bit. At the last second, though, Jack was able to snatch it up and hand it to her with a grin, telling her to be more careful. That was when a beep came from the monitor, alerting them that the TARDIS was spotted nearby. Jack ran out, grabbing his coat and sprinting out of the Hub.

Her smirk back in full force, Drew used the skill that had taken her centuries to hone and found a parallel reality. It wouldn't take too much energy to change one little thing, and so she did just that. She changed the course of events with something as simple as a cup of coffee. She was able to replace Gwen's decision to only fill her cup halfway with a need for a full cup. She watched events pan out again, admiring her handiwork.

_"So, Gwen, got any good news for me?" Jack asked, looking over her shoulder at the monitor._

_"Not yet, sir. It's only been a day, though, and knowing the Doctor something's bound to come up." Without meaning to, when she turned around to face him her elbow bumped into her desk, sending her coffee cup teetering on its edge, and in seconds her computer was soaked in piping hot coffee. "No, no, no!" But it was no use. The monitor sparked and hissed before turning black, and it was going to take hours to install the new computer. _

_Jack pulled out his mobile and sent a text to Ianto, asking him to come by and help. _You have got to be kidding me_, he thought as he fished out a spare keyboard from one of the Hub's many cupboards._

Drew opened her eyes, which had now returned to their normal swirling brown. She found herself in front of the TARDIS, no sign of the Doctor or Jack. She smiled to herself and walked back in through the bright blue doors, just in time to see the Doctor reading her note. "Oh, hey, Drew. I thought you were going to explore?"

"Nah, that's boring anyway. It's just Cardiff. Nothing cool ever happens in Cardiff."

"Alright then," he replied with a confused look. "Hey, how did you know how to fly the TARDIS?"

"You taught me. Or, another you from another universe taught me," she replied with a shrug. "Now, can I have a tour of this place? The neat thing is that no matter how many TARDISes I see, no two have been exactly alike."

"Absolutely!" he agreed with a grin. He ran over to her and grabbed her hand before dragging her through the countless rooms and corridors of the TARDIS. "Allons-y!"

* * *

AN: I'm so sorry again for the delay on this chapter. I hope it was alright. The next couple chapters will explain more about her back story and such. Thoughts? Questions? Randomness? Feel free to let me know.


	4. Regenerating's a Pill

AN: Hiiii! I promise I haven't forgotten about this story. This one was just a killer to write. I know where this is generally going, though, and I think it should all be said and done in about three or four more chapters. Just so you know, this one's a bit angsty, and it does have **mentions of death and suicide. **The next chapter will fully explain Drew's backstory, and then it will be back to plot. Huge thank-you to the readers, reviewers, followers, and favoriters. Special thanks to Truebluetardis, Emmyj3, and eruditereader for their reviews this time around.

DISCLAIMER: I only own the OC.

* * *

*~*~PREVIOUSLY~*~*

Drew used the skill that had taken her centuries to hone and found a parallel reality. It wouldn't take too much energy to change one little thing, and so she did just that. She changed the course of events with something as simple as a cup of coffee.

"Now, can I have a tour of this place? The neat thing is that no matter how many TARDISes I see, no two have been exactly alike."

"Absolutely!" he agreed with a grin. He ran over to her and grabbed her hand before dragging her through the countless rooms and corridors of the TARDIS. "Allons-y!"

* * *

SHE yawned for the 18TH time in the past half-hour. She couldn't believe how much energy it had taken from her to change something as simple as the amount of coffee in a cup, but here she was, slowly falling asleep on the couch like some kind of… human. The Doctor hadn't stopped talking for at least 20 minutes, and though his story about the institution of gamma radiation as a secondary energy source for the TARDIS was fascinating, she was knackered. She had only been half paying attention for about 8 minutes now, and she had begun just nodding when the Doctor paused for breath. After the 19TH yawn, though, he finally seemed to notice that she was fading fast.

"Well," he said as he jumped off the couch. "It's time for sleepy humans to hit the theoretical hay." He offered her a hand and she tried her hardest not to laugh at his assumption that she was human. _Oh, if he only knew…_

"Alright, Doctor." She smirked a bit, but the Doctor didn't think much of it because she seemed to do that a lot. "Um, where exactly am I supposed to sleep?"

"Oh! We'll just have to have the TARDIS whip you up a bedroom. I'll be back in a tick." He jogged off towards the console room, leaving Drew alone with her thoughts.

**_Ugh. I thought he'd never leave._**

Well, her thoughts and the TARDIS'. She chuckled a bit at the ship before mentally responding, _I'm sorry your thief is such a git. Can you believe he hasn't figured it out already?_

**_I know! And after all of his prattling on about how 'superior' he is, and what a 'genius' he is, he's so daft when he wants to be._**

_Yeah. Why do you think he acts like that?_

**_I think that there are just some truths that he'd rather not acknowledge. Oh, speak of the Devil…_** And with that the TARDIS cut herself off as the Doctor jogged back into the library.

"Right, your room's all set up. Would you like to see it?" He didn't bother waiting for her response, but instead he grabbed her hand once again and ran her through the corridors to her room. "Here you go! I have absolutely no idea what it'll actually look like, but the TARDIS seems to like you, so it should be alright. And if not I'm just two hallways over, then take a right, a left, go up the spiral staircase that has a perspective portrait of Forrest Gump, and then my door's the first one on the right. Sleep tight!" And with that he was off to… wherever it is he goes when his companions are sleeping.

Drew shook her head at the Time Lord's antics and opened the door to her new room. She gasped in surprise at how beautiful it was, and tears sprung to her eyes as she remembered when she'd first seen it-

_"Mal?" the Doctor called. "Are you ready to see your room?" He was grinning his manic grin, and he had one hand on the doorknob as the other rested at his wife's waist. They were both smiling down at their daughter, who could barely believe that she was getting her own room! They all walked in on the count of three, and the little girl laughed as she ran about the room, marveling at all of the little details. The man- well, in a way- and his wife stood to the side, happy beyond words that their daughter felt at home…_

Drew gasped as the memories overtook her, and she clutched her head to try to soothe the pain that accompanied them. She quickly wiped her eyes and tried to smile, remembering her mother's odd, but beautiful, smile. **_Are you alright, love?_** she heard the TADIS say in her mind.

_'Course I am. Thank you for the room, by the way, _she replied with yet another yawn.

She heard the TARDIS' tinkling laughter before she said, **_You're very welcome, my dear. Now, why don't you try to get some sleep? You certainly earned it._**

_I rather think I will…_And with that she walked across the room to the beautifully carved dark-wood bed, which looked like a mix of cherry and mahogany. The duvet was a deep blue color with golden sheets underneath. All of the rest of the furniture- twin nightstands, a bookshelf, and a small dresser- were made of the same wood, and the walls were a rich gold. She practically jumped into the bed, marveling at the fact that they smelled like she remembered. She quickly got comfortable under the sheets, and the TARDIS turned out the lights for her, and wished her good-night before leaving her mind to rest.

She slept wonderfully for a few hours, better than she had in centuries. But then things got complicated. Because then the nightmares started. And they didn't stop.

* * *

THE Doctor was, needless to say, perplexed. Some strange girl magically appeared on his TARDIS with all the answers he needed, knowledge about him, the ability to fly the TARDIS, and something in her presence that seemed strangely familiar. He was getting a headache trying to remember, though, and so he abandoned all hope of understanding. For now, anyway.

He surprised himself with a mighty yawn, and he only just noticed that he hadn't slept for a good two weeks. He settled himself in his bed, and he was asleep in seconds. He was, however, rudely awakened a mere three hours later by a knock at his door. "What could she _possibly _want?" he grumbled to himself as he went to his bedroom door. When he opened it, however, he was met with the strange sight of a young child, probably no older than 6 or 7, crying and wearing what looked like Drew's jumper.

With a heart-breaking sob she launched herself at his legs, clutching them as her small body continued to shake with the force of her crying. She practically clawed at the fabric of his pajama trousers, and with out much of a thought he immediately scooped her up into his arms, whispering that she'd be alright. He was confused at why he'd react like that, seeing as how he didn't even know who this little girl was. "Drew?" he yelled into the corridor. "Drew!"

"N-no need to shout," the girl said softly. The Doctor cringed, knowing that if Rose were here she'd probably smack him for being insensitive. "I can hear you perfectly well."

"I know, love. I'm sorry." He went back into his room and set her down on the bed, tucking her in before climbing in on the other side. "Now, can you tell me your name?"

"D-Drew."

"Oh… kay… That's a bit of an odd coincidence. How did you get onto the TAR- how did you get here?"

She giggled a bit at that, and the Doctor let out a sigh of relief at the fact that she was feeling a bit better. "It only happened earlier today, Doctor. And you were there. How d'you not remember?"

The Doctor looked down at her in confusion and replied, "How long have you been on the TARDIS?"

"Since this morning. Remember?" It was her turn to look confused. "We went to Cardiff and then you gave me a tour…"

The Doctor took several deep breaths before he could choke out, "Drew?"

"Yeah, why? Why are you acting so surprised?" She looked almost offended at the fact that he didn't seem to recognize her, and before she knew it she was panicking again, tears welling in her now-blue eyes, and her body beginning to shake once more. "Why are you acting like you don't know me? Th-that's not funny!" He apologized and mentally kicked himself once again as he held her, saying that yes, he did remember her, and no, he wasn't going to joke like that anymore.

"Drew?" he asked once she'd calmed down again. She nodded for him to ask his question. "Why do you… look like a little kid?"

She looked up at him in confusion before glancing down at herself. Her eyes widened in surprise and she held her hands out in front of her face, seeming to only notice that she looked different. "No…" she whispered in shocked terror. "No, please no. Not again, not this time…"

"What is it, Drew? What's wrong?"

"I've regenerated," she replied gravely, tears once again sprouting in her eyes. Suddenly, her eyes began glowing a soft gold as she remembered what happened.

*~EARLIER~*

SHE was falling. Through nothingness and timelessness and darkness. Everything and nothing flashed before her eyes, and they were burning with bright gold light. The pain was very near unbearable. And it never stopped. She tried to keep herself sane, tried to find something, _anything_ to break up the monotony of falling. But there was nothing, and that was all her life would be. Her chest began to constrict painfully, the double heartbeat skipping before turning singular. She felt herself begin to glow and burn, all over again, and she screamed. The emptiness around her absorbed it, and she knew it was useless. But she was panicking, the pain growing and growing as her screaming turned louder. She grabbed at her head, trying to _make it stop._ But she couldn't she finally felt her second heart stop completely, and then-

Drew awoke with a start, gasping for breath and feeling wetness on her cheeks. She slammed her fists into her chest, trying to restart her hearts. She began sobbing anew, and she was suddenly overwhelmed by fear and loss. She wished for her parents, for her Mummy and Daddy to come back and hold her, and those were her thoughts when the glowing started again. It started with her eyes, and then it spread to her whole body. She felt the pain, fresh and raw, and she tried not to cry out from the force of it. She was scared. She hadn't been this scared in at least a thousand years, but there it was. She was scared out of her mind, and none of this, none of what she'd been through was fair, and she just wanted her Mummy and Daddy. She cried as the pain and fear overwhelmed her, and she curled in on herself when she felt the change.

It was over in a few minutes, and for some reason she felt… small. She felt like she was a child all over again, and she was hit full-force by the immense need to be held and comforted. She climbed out of the bed that suddenly felt much taller, and ran out into the hallway. She ran the whole was through the twists and turns of the corridors, and one spiral staircase later she arrived at the Doctor's door. She didn't hesitate before knocking on the door, failing entirely at trying to calm herself down. She just knew, though, that the Doctor would make it better. He had to…

*~PRESENT~*

SHE gasped again after the flood of memories, her eyes finally falling to rest on the Doctor's shocked and worried face. "I- I…. I'm sorry," she finally whispered. She seemed to deliberate something in her mind before jumping up and running out the door.

The Doctor recovered from his shock moments later, and raced after her, slamming into his door and later the walls of the hallway. "Wait!" he yelled desperately. "Where did she go?!" he demanded of the TARDIS. "Where did she go?!"

**_She, erm, went to the Med Bay. But, Doctor, I think you should-_**

But the Doctor was done listening, his mind too busy trying to comprehend the fact that he wasn't alone and still retain basic motor skills as he all but flew down the stair and through the winding corridors. _How? How could she possibly be here? She never said… But then she… How?!_

He made it to the Med Bay in just enough time to see a flash of golden light, followed by what sounded like a pained yell. He ran in and saw Drew, now back to how she was before, curled up into a ball on the floor, a bottle of pills next to her. "No…" he whispered, running to help her. He stole a look at the bottle, and his hearts dropped when he saw "Aprin" clearly printed on the label. "Why would you do that?" he yelled at her. "Why would you _ever_ do something that bloody _stupid_? You just wasted a regeneration. You… How could you?!"

"Ugh, don't get your knickers in a twist, Fluffy," she groaned as she stood. Thankfully the jumpers that she wore were long, so she was decently covered, with the dark grey fabric coming to rest at about the middle of her thighs. "I didn't waste anything."

"You know that's a lie," he retorted, his full Oncoming Storm persona engaged.

"No, it's not."

He huffed irritably, rubbing his hands over his face in exasperation. "That's it. Talk. Tell me everything. No secrets, no lies. Just you, telling me what in all that is sane what's going on and who you are."

She seemed to argue with herself a bit, but after a moment she hesitantly nodded. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

* * *

AN: Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? Requests for advice about world domination? Just let me know.


	5. The Liar

Guest and thequeenfangirl

AN: H-Hi, guys. So I'm ridiculously sorry for the wait. For some reason, I thought that I'd updated just a couple days ago, and I didn't see until late last night (ie when it was time for me to go to bed) that it had actually been a week. I'm so incredibly sorry! I promise to try my very hardest to update in less than a week this time, so hopefully Monday (?). School starts Wednesday, though, so it's gonna be a bit crazy. But I promise to try. Huge thank you to all those that have read, reviewed, followed, and/or favorited. Special thanks to Guest and thequeenfangirl for reviewing, and just... thank you to all of you that have stayed with this story, even with the weird updating.

DISCLAIMER: I own zero 'Doctor Who's which is a cryin' shame.

* * *

*~*~PREVIOUSLY~*~*

He huffed irritably, rubbing his hands over his face in exasperation. "That's it. Talk. Tell me everything. No secrets, no lies. Just you, telling me what in all that is sane is going on and who you are."

She seemed to argue with herself a bit, but after a moment she hesitantly nodded. "Alright. What do you want to know?"

"Everything."

* * *

THEY walked back to the library, where the Doctor stayed standing as Drew curled in on herself on one of the couches. He had his "Oncoming Storm" face on, but she didn't even flinch. "Alright, first things first: what are you?"

She seemed to think very hard about that, opening and closing her mouth several times as she looked for the right words. "Have you ever read 'The Giver'?"

The Doctor blinked in surprise at that before warily replying, "Erm, yes. I believe I have."

"Well, then you're familiar with the concept of a tyrannical society that purges its members of any and all emotion, and forces a singular host to have the burden of it."

He blinked once more at that, both at the strange change of topic and at the forced nonchalance that didn't quite hide the ice in her voice. "Er… yes? But what does that have to do with, well, you?"

She took another moment for herself to gather her thoughts and motioned for him to sit at the other end of the couch. When he had done so, she started again. "On my universe's Gallifrey, it was kind of like that. You know how when the Daleks want to make humans like them, to join their army or for whatever reason? And they remove everything but hate?" He nodded. She gave a small, sad smile and continued, "Well, that's what the Time Lords did. They took away love, happiness, sadness, everything, just so they could have a hate-filled army. But they weren't able to form anything that would simply rid them of their emotions; it all needed somewhere to go."

"And that's where you came in."

She nodded dejectedly. "Yep. They enhanced my telepathic abilities and manipulated my biology so that my mind could take it all in and handle keep it. I, erm, well, the first time that they had the emotion transfer it overwhelmed me." She looked up and noticed that he seemed a bit lost at that. "I regenerated. Twice."

He winced on her behalf and reached out a hand. She weakly smiled and took it, and for some reason the Doctor thought it felt… wrong. He shook his head to get rid of the slightly uneasy feeling. "What did they do after that?"

"They altered my timeline, made me a fixed point. That's why I said that I wasn't wasting anything. I can never die." His hand snapped back immediately at that, suddenly understanding why she felt wrong. It was the same feeling that he got when he was around Jack. She was a discrepancy in the time continuum. She should have been impossible…

"How could they possibly have done that?"

She snorted in wry amusement. "It was the High Council. About a hundred Time Lords that all wanted something; how could they _not_? They all combined their abilities of manipulating time lines."

He nodded at that, still wary of her. "Alright, what happened to your reality? You briefly mentioned it earlier."

She got a bit uneasy at that. "Ah. That's… a bit more complicated. First I'd have to tell you about my parents." He nodded for her to continue. "Technically, I'm only half Time Lord; my mum was a human. That's why they choose me, cos I inherited my mother's empathy. My father was… odd. He didn't do things the way the rest of the Gallifreyans did. He stole a TARDIS and ran away to Earth, where he met my mother. They traveled together for years, and they fell in love." Her smile turned warm and sincere as she remembered her loving parents. "She taught him to love again," she whispered. She shook her head a bit and focused on her story. "He took her back to Gallifrey, and he was able to convince the Council to let her stay. It cost him, though. He had to give up all of his remaining regenerations so that a few members of the Council could live a bit longer. He said he didn't mind, though. It made him happy to think that he wouldn't outlive Mum by as much. Speaking of, that was around the time that they had me. No one thought that it was possible, but I sort of… happened. They were really happy that they had me, even though everyone thought we were freaks."

The Doctor had been sporadically nodding, and to be honest he'd been a bit swept away in the story. But that hadn't really answered his questions… "But _who_ were your parents? What makes them important to the destruction of your universe?"

She blinked at his bluntness. "Wow. Nicely put, Doctor. Very gentle, that."

He winced, and he knew that if Rose were there she'd tell him that he was being rude again. "Erm, sorry," he said, awkwardly rubbing the back of his neck.

She laughed a bit at his embarrassment. "It's okay." She sobered as she contemplated the best way to answer his question. "My father was the Time Lord. He was always really secretive about his name; he didn't tell me until I went to the academy-"

The Doctor sighed in frustration. "Just… tell me who they are. Please."

She looked at him nervously. "Well, erm, my father's chosen title was… 'The Doctor'. And… my mum was Rose Tyler."

The Doctor's eyes widened considerably at that, and Drew would have laughed if they hadn't been having such a serious conversation. "That's- But we never- We were just- And she- What?!"

"In my reality," she said slowly and more than a bit condescendingly. "You and Rose were my parents."

The Doctor stood up and walked about the room, grumbling quietly to himself and running his hands through his hair frantically. "Well, what does that have to do with-"

"I swear, if you bluntly say 'your universe getting destroyed' like it's nothing, I'll make you _wish_ you couldn't regenerate."

The Doctor's mouth remained gaping open for another moment or two before he closed it with an audible 'pop'. "Erm…"

She sighed and answered his half-asked question. "Earlier, when I said that my reality was destroyed in the Time War-"

"At the Fall of Arcadia, yes I know _when_, but _how_?!" the Doctor irritably interrupted.

"Seriously, do you even have a filter on that gob of yours?" At the Doctor's offended "Oi!" she merely shook her head in near disbelief. "As I was _about_ to say, I lied. My reality, like I said earlier, was a secondary class. It was basically a world created by something that could have, or should have happened. But something happened in this universe that rendered my universe null. In this case, my universe was, for all intents and purposes, what _should _have happened, which is why it was destroyed, as opposed to a universe that merely _could_ have happened. In those situations, the second class reality is simply erased, and it's as though it never existed in the first place. But since my reality was a bit more complicated, everyone had to go through the process of destruction." She finished out of breath, and she anxiously waited for the Doctor's response.

"So, someone did something that they weren't supposed to, and it killed everyone in your universe, am I correct?"

Drew stood up without a word and crossed the room so that she was standing directly in front of the Doctor. She raised her hand in a flash and slapped him across the face, hard, and silently returned to her spot on the couch. "Wh-wh-what was that for?!" the Doctor sputtered, cradling his _extremely_ sore cheek.

"I did warn you. It's ridiculously rude to talk about people dying the way you did, like it's nothing. Especially because it was your fault-" Her eyes widened in shock as she clapped a hand over her mouth. "Doctor, I'm- I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

"What do you mean it was my fault?" Drew was surprised that there was no ice in his tone. He didn't sound angry at her, he just sounded… broken.

She squirmed a bit under his heartsbroken stare, but she finally was able to answer. "Well, erm, it wasn't really your fault, per say. I mean, you didn't mean to do anything, and besides, it just-"

"Drew, please tell me what I did."

She noticeably winced at his miserable tone. "Youdidn'tfinishyoursentence."

He blinked at her blankly and asked, "What was that?"

She sighed before repeating, "You didn't finish your sentence. Like I said, in my universe you and Rose were my parents. You were _supposed_ to say 'I love you' on Darlig Ulv Straanden, but something went wrong and you weren't able to. That made my universe impossible, and it was sucked into the Void. But, since I was made a fixed point…"

He shook his head as soon as he drew the connection. "You stayed alive."

She nodded at that. "Yep. And I couldn't breathe, what with the lack of air and all, and so I was in a continuous cycle of dying and regenerating for who knows how long."

"I don't understand, though. You said that you'd been in the Void for an inordinate amount of time, and that you've spent years dimension-hopping. How's that possible when I was only at Bad Wolf Bay yesterday?"

"Time travel," she replied simply. "When I found a rift through the dimensional continuum, it spit me out hundreds of years in the past in a dimension I'd never heard of. After that, every time I used my Vortex manipulator it dropped me off at random points in time. This time, it happened to be only a minute or two after Bad Wolf Bay, but it's been different every time."

He nodded at that and came to sit next to her on the couch. "How many times did you regenerate? While you were stuck in the Void, I mean."

"I dunno. I lost count."

He laughed humorlessly at that. "No. You don't seem like the kind of person that would lose count."

"Well, it hardly matters. It's over, and knowing how many times it happened isn't going to change anything. And it's just gonna make you guiltier."

He nodded once again. "So, if you knew that it was-" he gulped uncomfortably. "That it was my fault, why did you go looking for me in all the other dimensions?"

She looked at him nervously and replied, "Cos you're my dad. Even if you aren't my dad, you're still my dad, does that make sense?"

He grinned at her a bit. "No," he said softly.

"Good," she replied with a smile. "That's how you know it's me talking; I hardly ever make sense."

They shared a moment of nice silence before Drew broke it with a mighty yawn. The Doctor chuckled and took her hand, and together they walked back to her room. He gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head when they reached her door, wishing her good night. When she was sure he wouldn't hear, she whispered, "Good night, Dad."

In the console room, the Doctor smiled up at the ceiling, because the TARDIS had played this quiet wish over the speakers, and for the first time since the Time War he felt… at peace.

* * *

AN: Hey, all. So sorry again for the delay. I think this story only has about two or three chapters, and in the next one we'll get to see the Doctor and Drew's plan in action. See you soon (I hope).

What did you guys think of Drew's backstory? Please feel free to let me know.


	6. The Glitch and the War Drone

AN: Hey, guys! What's this?! An update less than a week later?! I know, it's shocking. I spent pretty much the whole day writing this, which is probably why it's _insanely long_. Seriously, this is the longest chapter I've written for any of my stories ever. It's partly that way cos my mind got away from me, and also to make up for my mini-hiatuses, so I hope this makes it at least a bit better. Thank you to all of the readers, reviewers, followers, and/or favoriters, with special thanks to Rose's Companion, thequeenfangirl, and Guest this time around for their feedback. I do so love feedback *hint hint nudge nudge* Not entirely sure when I'll be able to update again, but until then please enjoy chapter 6.

DISCLAIMER: Roses are red, Violets are blue, Here's a big shock: I don't own Doctor Who.

* * *

*~*~PREVIOUSLY~*~*

"They enhanced my telepathic abilities and manipulated my biology so that my mind could take it all in and handle keep it. […] They altered my timeline, made me a fixed point. That's why I said that I wasn't wasting anything. I can never die. […] My father's chosen title was 'The Doctor'. And my mum was Rose Tyler. […] You were _supposed_ to say 'I love you' on Darlig Ulv Straanden, but something went wrong and you weren't able to. That made my universe impossible, and it was sucked into the Void."

They shared a moment of nice silence before Drew broke it with a mighty yawn. The Doctor chuckled and took her hand, and together they walked back to her room. He gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head when they reached her door, wishing her good night. When she was sure he wouldn't hear, she whispered, "Good night, Dad."

In the console room, the Doctor smiled up at the ceiling, because the TARDIS had played this quiet wish over the speakers, and for the first time since the Time War he felt… at peace.

* * *

THE next morning, the Doctor woke her up in the rudest way possible.

"RISE AND SHINE, DAUGHTER-OF-MINE!" And with that he pulled back the curtains on her window (which he installed during the night for just this purpose, complete with virtual graphics of sunlight that he soniced so as to make the holographic sunlight brighter than normal) and began jumping up and down on her bed.

She merely groaned out a, "Five more minutes…" and rolled over, pulling the covers over her head.

"NOPE! SO MUCH TO DO, SO MUCH TO SEE!" He continued to jump up and down, one foot on either side of her, continuing to shout encouragement.

Drew was seriously considering rewriting time, making it to where the Doctor broke a limb or had some kind of stupid accident that would make him unable to wake her up at whatever ungodly hour it was. She thought better of it, since it would be "a misuse of her powers" and "morally wrong" and "borderline barbaric" and all of that other drivel her parents always talked about. She was just congratulating herself on her good decision when the Doctor stepped off the bed. "Ah, thank you, Doctor. I'll be up in a little bit, I promise, so just-"

But she cut herself off as the Doctor ripped the covers off of her bed and flung them to the ground. "WAKEY, WAKEY EGGS AND BAKE-Y!" he yelled as he jumped back on the bed.

She merely stayed where she was, curled up in the middle of her bed, before she suddenly bolted up with a look of pure rage. The Doctor smirked in satisfaction, glad that his plan to wake her up had succeeded. He jumped back to the floor and put his hands in his pockets, rocking back and forth on his heels. "Good morning, Drew! So nice to start the day, isn't it? Now, first things first-"

But he was cut off when Drew jumped out of bed and shoved him out the door, slamming it in his face once he was in the hallway. He gaped at the wood that seemed to magically appear, but he was snapped out of his shock at the distinctive sound of a lock being dead bolted. "Oh! You're no fun. Why don't you want to wake up?"

"COS I AM BLOODY EXHAUSTED!" she shouted through the door. She walked to where the Doctor had thrown her duvet and grabbed it, aggressively jumping into bed and screwing her eyes shut.

The Doctor rocked on his heels once again, and he heard the springs of her bed groan as she settled back into bed. "And three… two…one…" he mouthed.

The door was unlocked and open in a flash, and it revealed a very upset half-Time-Lady with the most impressive bed head the Doctor had ever seen. If looks could kill, he wouldn't have any regenerations left. "I can't get back to sleep," she informed him gravely. She pushed him out of the way and stumbled to the kitchen, putting the kettle on the stove and getting out everything she needed for tea. She sat down at the small table and her head fell down to it with an audible 'thunk'.

The Doctor chuckled a bit at that, consolingly patting her on the head as he made them both tea. "Here you go; drink up."

She lazily picked her head up and fixed her tea with a splash of milk and dunked three spoons full of sugar. She then got one more spoon full of sugar and ate it by itself and stirred her concoction. The Doctor looked at her in amused confusion and fixed his own tea. "Erm, got enough sugar there?"

"Oi! You've no right to judge."

The Doctor paused to stare at his spoon, knowing that he'd poured in twice as much sugar as Drew had. "True enough."

"So," she said after she'd downed half of her cup of tea. "What's so important about today that you had to wake me up like that?"

The Doctor beamed at her and replied, "Today we get to go fetch Rose. The TARDIS' power supply is at 600%, with most of it diverted to the spatial/dimensional flux capacitors as per your instructions. I did adjust a couple of the figures on your equations; seems like someone"- he wiggled his finger at her- "forgot to carry the one." He only chuckled at her sheepish look. "Hey, it's alright. Now," he said as he clapped his hands together. "We need to get a move on. Don't want to make Rose stay in the other dimension for too long. Also, I may need your help finding something presentable to wear, being that I want to be sure to make a good impression on her, Jackie, and Pete. But right now, let's focus on you. Am I correct in assuming that you only have the one outfit?"

"Yeah, but I was able to change into my ESJ for pajamas last night."

"ESJ?" he asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it stands for 'Emergency Spare Jumper.' Never leave home without and ESJ," she informed him with a smile. He still looked confused, so she answered his unasked question. "Time Lord technology; my trouser pockets are bigger on the inside."

"Ah. That makes sense. But," he trailed off with a mischievous grin. "How would you like to see the Wardrobe Room?"

His hearts felt a pang as she smiled so like Rose would, with her tongue in her teeth. He brushed away the feeling as she replied, "Allons-y, Doctor."

* * *

ABOUT a half-hour (and almost 20 different ensembles ranging from serious candidates to utterly ridiculous jokes) later, the Doctor and Drew were able to agree on her new "look". She had a short tan-ish gold dress with dark brown leggings and a matching jacket, and the whole outfit looked a bit tattered and torn. A pair of taupe combat boots completed the outfit, and with that they moved on to the Doctor. He opted for his blue suit, saying that it was time for a bit of a change, but for a reason that Drew refused to share, she said that it would be a decidedly bad idea.

"It's, erm, a bit too_ human_ when you wear it. The blue suit says 'I'm a half-human-half-Time-Lord hybrid that may or may not be from Cheswick', whereas the brown suit says 'I am the bloody Oncoming Storm and I am here to _mess stuff up._' Don't you think?"

He looked at her blankly before warily taking his brown pinstripes into the changing room with him. "Not really. But whatever you say…"

When he reemerged, it was down to the issue of his tie. He kept picking one up, a brown tie with blue swirls on it, and finally Drew had to ask about it. "Alright, why are you holding that tie like it's the most precious thing in the world?" she inquired with a smirk.

He snapped out of his reverie and almost dropped said tie, but he then tightened his grip on it and clutched it tightly to his chest. "I'm not," he replied with what he hoped was an innocent expression, all the while stroking the tie lightly with his thumb as he held it tighter still.

All Drew did in response was shoot a pointed look to his chest, where he was still practically fondling the tie. He sighed and loosened his hold on it and answered, "It was a present from Rose. She gave it to me for Christmas right after I regenerated. She got up early the day after Christmas to run to the shops and get it," he said with a smile and a gentle laugh. "She said that it doubled as an 'I-still-like-you-even-though-you-completely-changed' present, and it's been my favorite tie ever since."

Drew couldn't help but smile at the dopey and love-struck look he was giving the tie. "Then that's definitely the one you should wear." Her words seemed to snap him out of his daydreaming once again, and he shot her an embarrassed smile before tying his tie, smiling as he saw himself in the mirror.

"Now, do you think it's time to find out if my plan's gonna work?" Drew asked with a smirk.

The Doctor took a deep breath before grabbing her hand and running to the console room. "Absolutely!" he yelled as they ran.

* * *

"SO, erm, maybe my calculations were a _bit_ off…"

"Yeah. Just a bloody smidge."

The Doctor wouldn't even look at her. He was soaked to the bone, he was freezing, and he had absolutely no idea where they were. Apparently, too much of the power was diverted to various flux capacitors, and it resulted in one very knackered TARDIS steering control. Which was why they were now using the TARDIS like a raft as they floated somewhere near the middle of the ocean. The TARDIS had landed sideways, and they were sitting on it kind of like Rose in "Titanic", but they acknowledged the obvious room for two.

"Doctor, I really am sorry, I-"

"Didn't the other me teach you to carry your ruddy ones?!"

She winced at his tone, trying to think of a way to fix things between them. She looked all around them, and to her great relief saw land over to her left. "Hey, it's gonna be alright. Judging by salt levels, wildlife, and the vague information we were able to get from the TARDIS, we're in the Atlantic, and there's a coast right over there. What do you wanna bet it's Darlig Ulv Straanden?"

"What makes you think it's Bad Wolf Bay?" he grumbled.

"Where do you usually end up when you come to this dimension?"

"Fair enough," he moodily conceded. He calculated that they had about 30 minutes before they made it to shore, and he thought they might find a way to pass the time. "So…" he awkwardly began. "What's your favorite color?"

She blinked at him vacantly before understanding what he was doing. "Doctor, you don't have to try to make conversation. I'm alright with companionable silence."

"No, no I really want to know more about you," he assured her, scooting closer.

She eyed him strangely before replying, "Black. I think it's really cool that it's considered a color even though color is defined by the optical resonance of the refraction and absorption of light, even though black is technically the absence of light. It's almost like a colorful paradox."

He blinked dumbly at her for a few moments before closing his mouth with a 'pop' and replying, "Oh. Cool."

"Was that a weird answer? I never know what other people would say. It changes so much over the years, and I just-"

"Hey, hey! No reason to apologize. It was just, well, it was a really neat answer."

"Oh," she replied, not half surprised. "Well, what's your favorite color?"

The Doctor looked down at his still-damp shoes as a blush spread over his face. "Well, it's a sort of brown, but it looks… warm. It's the sort of color you could drown in. It's brown, but it has these flecks of gold, but around the edges it's darker, and overall it looks like honey and chocolate had a baby, and-"

"So, basically the color of Rose's eyes?"

He sputtered for a bit, and honestly considered trying to deny it, but ultimately released a sigh and muttered, "Basically, yeah. What gave me away?"

"Well, colors don't have edges. They're concepts, and therefore boundless. That and you've been falling all over yourself talking about her today."

"Oh. Right." There was a bit of awkward silence, at least for the Doctor, before he broke it by asking, "So, you're a Time Lady. Did you ever choose a title, or…?"

"Yeah, actually, I did," she replied with a smile. "The Time Lords tried to choose for me, calling me 'The Weapon', but I didn't think it was very me. I went with 'The Glitch', even though that one never caught on."

"I hope I'm not being rude again," he started (and unconsciously started raising his hands in a defense pose). "But why did they call you 'The Weapon'?"

"Well, they implanted every humanoid emotion into my mind, for billions upon billions of Time Lords. The Time War was raging on our universe, too, and they got desperate trying to find a way to stop the Daleks. My powers were still purely experimental at that point, but they made a plan: use me to give the Daleks humanity. They were going to give the Daleks compassion, empathy, remorse, _love_, and seeing what they did with those emotions would have destroyed them. They took away my mind, filled it with all of their feelings, and then tried to find a way to use me to kill billions of Daleks. I was nothing but a machine to them. Just another meaningless drone in their meaningless war."

The Doctor quickly gathered her into his arms, and she let out a wry chuckle against his chest. "I'm sorry, Drew. I am so sorry."

"Oi, don't start with that, Doctor," she scolded him as she sat up properly and wiped her eyes. _When did I start crying?_ she thought. "It's not your fault. And besides, you stopped them from doing that."

He looked slightly less sulky at that. "You mean the me in your reality?"

"No," she informed him with a smile. "It was you. The you-y you. The one and only."

He smiled in earnest at that, though he still felt a bit bad. "How did I do that?"

Her smile faltered a bit, but it was back up in a flash, so fast that he thought he'd imagined the slight fall. "Doesn't matter. Look, we're almost at the coast."

His smile fell instantly at her sloppy attempt at changing the subject. "No, how did I stop the Time Lords?"

"Don't be silly, Doctor. It doesn't matter how, what matters is-"

"How. Did I. Stop them?"

She winced and speedily spit out, "Well, they could hardly use me as a weapon to murder all the Daleks while they were busy dying and being sucked into the Void as all of reality was destroyed, could they?" She gave a forced laugh to try to stop the inevitable bad mood that he would be launched into.

But, needless to say, it didn't work.

"So, you're basically saying that the only reason that they weren't able to murder… was because I murdered them?" He looked broken all over again, and she had to think of something quickly to pull him out of his funk.

"No, no, no, nonono! Don't do that, please, _please_ don't do that! It's perfectly alright, Doctor, there was nothing you could have done! It's okay."

He shook his head and opened his mouth to refute it when he was stopped by a sudden shock of cold. He finally snapped to his senses as he resurfaced- _when did I fall into the water?_- and saw a guilty-looking Drew sitting on the TARDIS. "You- You p-pushed m-me-me into the w-water!" he sputtered, stumbling over his indignation and the chattering of his teeth.

"Yep," she replied, as if it were totally normal.

"Why?!" he demanded as she helped him back onto their makeshift raft.

"Cos you were getting broody. I had to do _something_ to get your mind off of it."

"So, what? You just thought, 'Oh, dear! The Doctor looks sad. I know, I'll push him into the flipping ice-cold water'?!"

"More or less, yeah," she replied. About two seconds later, though, she was sputtering and spitting salt water out of her mouth as she got over the shock of being pushed in. "Why?"

"Cos now we're even."

"Oh, great. Ta," she replied sarcastically, refusing his help in getting back up. Once they were both settled next to each other and shivering, she broke their mutually miffed silence by laughing. And what started as half-hearted giggles soon erupted in to full-on, belly-aching, destroy-your-diaphragm-and-give-you-abs laughing. The Doctor joined in a moment later, and soon they were doubled over and gasping, unable to stop. "What are we _like_?"

"I've no idea," he replied once they'd gotten under control (mostly, anyway). "But I think it works." They fell into silence once again, with this one more comfortable than the last. "I never asked, why'd you pick 'The Glitch' as your title?" he asked softly a few minutes later.

"Cos with all of other people's emotions running through my head all the time, sometimes I'd get overwhelmed and just… shut down. I couldn't explain it, but I'd just stop. Sometimes I stayed sitting or standing, but a few times I actually fell to the ground in a dead faint. I couldn't breath or respond to anything; everything about me just _stopped_. My mum started calling it glitching, just to put some kind of label on it, and I liked the ring of it. As the Time War kept going, and more and more people suffered losses, there were more emotions to deal with and the glitching got worse. That was when I picked the title, cos they were trying to tell me what I was. And I didn't want to be that. I didn't want to be their weapon. So, I became 'The Glitch'. After the Time War, and my time in the Void, I found out that with being a fixed point in time I can manipulate the Time Vortex, at least a bit, and slip through the discrepancies."

"Through the glitches," he responded with a bit of awe.

"Exactly. And that was what made it official," she finished with a smile. There was a bit of shuddering from the TARDIS, and when the Time Lords looked up they saw that it was because they'd hit land. They teamed up to push the TARDIS right-side-up, and Drew apologized profusely to her about the miscalculation.

They went into the (slightly flooded) console room, and the Doctor did a bit of emergency maintenance in order to get the TARDIS' main functions online. "Oh, give the girl a prize," he said about an hour later. "We've landed at Bad Wolf Bay. Ten points to Drew."

"Molto bene! Now, how do we find Rose?"

"I- We- Or we could- Yeah, I've got nothing. Any ideas, Drew?" He was met with nothing but silence, so he crawled out from under the console and walked over to where she stood in the doorway. "Drew?"

"Erm, I don't think we'll need any help finding Rose."

"Oh, brilliant," he said with a smile. "Why's that?"

She wordlessly stepped out of the way, allowing the Doctor to walk out the doors. Waiting just on the other side of the doors was the most beautiful face he'd ever seen. "Rose…" he breathed.

The woman before him only blinked in shock, her brown eyes wide in surprise and confusion. "What? How? You- But- _How_?"

"Rose!" he said instead, sweeping her up into his arms and swinging her in joyful circles. "Rose, I'm back! Isn't that brilliant?" He set her down, and instead of being met with a bright smile like his own he saw her look of confusion. "Rose, it's me: the Doctor."

"Oh, well yeah. Course. I know that," she replied. "My grandmother always told me stories about the madman she traveled with in a blue box."

He felt his hearts plummet to his stomach as he asked, "Your grandmother?"

"Yeah. My grandmother, Rose Tyler."

* * *

AN: So, my first attempt at a cliffie. I'd love to know what you guys think. I think the next chapter's going to be the last, but I started this thinking it'd be 3-4 chapters, so what do I know?

Also, if anyone's curious, Drew's explanation of her favorite color is also mine, so I thought I'd incorporate it. No one probably cares, but hey.

Thought? Concerns? Questions? I'd love to hear from you guys.


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